Two offseasons ago Tsuyoshi Wada left Japan to sign a two-year, $8 million deal with Baltimore, but he underwent Tommy John elbow surgery before ever throwing a pitch for the Orioles.

He hit the free agent market again after having a $5 million team option declined and now Wada has agreed to a minor-league deal with the Cubs.

Wada was considered a potential mid-rotation starter when he came over from Japan, but his post-surgery numbers at Triple-A this year were underwhelming. Still, could be an interesting buy-low flier for Chicago.

This guy is an idiot. Last year, he could have forced the O’s to bring him up to the bigs due to a clause in his contract. He was pitching decently enough in triple-a. Instead, he agreed to spend more time at triple-a, which turned out to be the rest of the season. Now he might never make an appearance in the major league.

Explain to me the supposed clause that forces you to be brought up to the big leagues but allows you to stay in the minors if you so choose. Only time i have heard of anything close to that is a monetary payout. If a player is on the active roster by so so date, he gets all his contract guaranteed. Otherwise, he is released. See John Smoltz and the Red Sox as a recent example.

Nah, don’t really feel bad for the Orioles in this instance. It was a shot that didn’t work out. Ended up being a gigantic waste of money, but you know the old adage, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.